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AN 

ORATION 

SELIVERED BEFOKE THE 

WASHINGTON^ BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, 

AT WASHINGTON HALL, 

IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 
GN THE 

Fourth of July, 1811. 
^F ROBERT SEDGWICK, ESQUIRE, 



PUBLISHED BT THE SOCIETY^ 



JVEW-YORK: 
PRINTED BY LARGIN & THOMPSON, 

NO. 5 BURLING SLIP, 



1811. 



18),' 



s 



ORATION. 



At a time when the moral and political relations of the 
world are undergoing a revolution, which scarcely leaves 
behind it, the elements of what it destroys, — at a time 
when that tremendous power, which has swept away, like 
the visions of a dream, kingdom after kingdom, which 
before, had only been strengthened by the conflicts of cen- 
turies; seems gathering fresh strength to break down the 
only remaining barriers to its progress ; we are convened 
to celebrate the independence of our country. 

Yes, while in one of the fairest portions of the earth, 
millions of beings, who bear the Almighty's image, as well 
as we, and whose protectors are better hardened for the 
toils of marches, and the onset of battle, than we are, have 
bowed their necks to the conqueror, and have said " this 
world was made for Csesar;'' — While a despotism which 
the world has neither been able to break or disconcert, 
has dared to appeal to God, for the proof, that men were 
created to be slaves ; and has combined the answer to that 
appeal, with the * religion of the slaves it has made ; we 

* The following is a translation of a part of the catechism -which the 
minister of religion in France, is compelled to teach the children in his 
parish. 

Q. " What are the duties of christians toAvards the Princes who govern 
" them, and what in particular are our duties towards Napoleon the first, 
* ' our Emperor ? 

A. " Christians owe to the princes who govern them, and wc owe in 
particular to Napoleon the first, our Emperor, love, respect, obedience, 
" fidelity, military service, the tributes ordered for the preservation and 
'■^ defence of the Emjiire, and his throne; we owe him besides, fervent 
" prayers for his safety, and for the spiritual and temporal prosperity of 
*' the state. 



have been permitted, and are still permitted, to live in an 
independent land. Permitted, did I say ? I trust we are 
not free by sufferance. Once tenants at will, of this fair 
domain, and no homage but uncomplaining submission to 
a tyranny which would not even compliment our servitude, 
would satisfy the lord of the domain. We hold our liber- 
ties by abetter tenure than the courtesy, or the magnanimity 
of a conqueror. Yes; and we hold them by a better truce 
too, than the love which some of our patriots bear us, 
whose wayward eloquence, in spite of them, will wander in- 
to its appropriate theme,-»-the praises of their master. Ah, 

Q- "■ Why are we under all these obligations towards our Emperor ? 

A. "1st. Because God, who creates empires, and distributes them ac- 
" cording to his will, in filling our Emj)eror with his bounties, whether it 
" be in war, or in peace, has established him our sovereign, and madehina 
" the minister of his power, and his image upon the earth. To honour 
*' and &erve our Erajieror then^ is to honour and serve God himself. 

Q. " Are there no particular motives which ought to attach us more 
" firiTilv to Napoleon the first our Emperor ? 

J. " Yes ; for it is he, whom God has raised up in difficult circumstances 
" to establish the public culture of the holy relipjon of our Fatliersand to 
" be its protector. He has restored and preserved public order by his 
" profound and active wisdom ; he defends the state by hispuisant arm ; 
"for he has become the anointed of the Lord, by the consecration which he - 
" has received from the sovereign pontiff, chief of the universal church. 

Q. " What ought we to think of those, who avouM fail in their duty 
•• towards our Emperor ? 

A. " According to the ApTostle Paul, they would resist the order estab- 
*' lished by God hinoself,<77zrf -viouldrcnder themselves tvorthy of eternal 
" damnation. 

Q. '' Are the duties which Ave owe our Emperor, equally binding upon 
*' us tov/ards his legitimate successors in the order established by the con- 
^' stitution of the Empire ? 

A. " Yes; without doubt, for we read in the holy scriptures, that God, 
*' the Lord of heaven and of earth, by a disposition of his supreme will, 
" and by his providence, gives empires not only to one person in particu- 
" lar, but also to his family." Catechism^ '2d. part, lesson 7th. 

If Bonaparte thinks those who fail in their duty towards him, guiltyof 
eternal damnation, he must indulge some ap])rehensions as to his own 
iate hereafter, unless he imag-ines that there is more difference between 
himself and liis subjects, than there is between him and \\i-> God. 



that that patriotism which has had its birth, so long since 
the charter, by which our independence was proclaimed,- 
was sealed with blood, should so soon attune it's lyre to the 
praises of him, who while he snulTs up the blood of his 
enemies, scarcely perceives the incense of praise, offered 
by those who are to be his future victims. 

The independence of our country is a subject on which 
it becomes us to rejoice. He who can look back upon that 
day when this nation had its birth, or can survey-that awful 
conflict which procured him his only title to his liberties, 
without emotions of gratitude and pride ; without catch- 
ing something of that high resolve, and daring puroose, 
which proclaimed, and made us fvcG; and without feeling 
himself braced anew, by something like that nerve^ which 
then weilded his country's sword; may wear the semblance, 
but he has not the spirit of a man. Who would be so de- 
generate, as to listen to the tale of the valour and heroism 
of his ancestors, and not at least for the moment, become a 
hero himself. The honours of the father, leave no legacy 
but reproach to the son, v/hose blood docs not course 
quicker through his veins, when he is pointed to the field, 
w here those honours were won. But there is a spirit in he- 
roic deeds so, subtle, and so bouyant, that it will penetrate 
the hardest bosoms, and lift up the most leaden hearts. 
That spirit should not be suffered to evaporate. Though 
the martial fire, which burnt in the bosoms of many of the 
soldiers of the revolution, is extinguished for ever; yet 
at their graves, may be lighted up other fires to consume 
the future enemies of our country. 

My countrymen, what a scene does our revolution pre- 
sent? What a display of human character? What interests 
were wrapped up in it ? What consequences hung upon it? 
Imagine for a single moment that its termination had been 
the reverse of what it was ; and if you can, conceive the change, 
livery thing which endears to us the memory of our struggles 



and our triumphs vanishes in an instant. The field of battle 
at once changes its aspect. Defeat succeeds to victory. 
Happy were the soldiers who poured out their lives in de- 
fence of their country and their home ; for their country is 
lost, and their home has become the habitation of strangers. 
'^Vhe'ir survivors are the only objects of commisseration,for 
they survive to be conquered. The names of the heroes of 
that day, instead of being inscribed on our standards, in com- 
memoration of their virtues, are registered on the catalogue 
of defeated rebels, as an awful monition to future treason. 
Our independence, the rugged offspring of rugged sires, 
is crushed at its birth. The fair structure of our liberties, 
uniting all that is beautiful in proportion, with all that is so- 
lid in strength, is transformed into a monument to record 
our disgrace. We are no longer the sons of freemen, or free- 
men ourselves If this picture is too general to ex- 
cite your interest, select from its scenes of supposed ad- 
versity, a single object. Look at the Fatherof our country. 
The laurel wreath of victory is at once stripped from his 
brow, though the diadem of immortal honours remains, 
^ee him in his tent, revolving in his great mind, the doubt- 
ful issue of a conflict, on which are suspended all his own 
and his country's hopes. The fate of his children, now 
triumphant, now scattered and defeated, seems alternately 
])icturcd in the warrioY's face. Thetumultuations of solici- 
tude, of doubt, and of apprehension, subside ; and give way 
to the fixed purpose, and the unalterable will. He resolves 
on battle. Already is his armour on. The charge is 
sounded. The god of armies deserts our chief. The 
mercy of his enemies refuses him an honourable death, 

and reserves him for the scaffold Blessed be God, we 

have been reserved for a better fate ; and Washington was 
permitted to breathe out his prayersfor his country, and his 
life together; amidst the I)lcssings of a peace which he 
procured, and the benedictions of a countrv which he saved. 



It is our highest delight to follow to the field, that patriot 
band to whom we owe our liberties — to catch with them, 
the first inspiration of a cause, which nature approved, 
which reason sanctioned, and which heaven blessed — to 
see them tear off the badges of their servitude, and substi- 
tute in their place the musket or the SAvord — to follow 
them. Step by step, along their rugged path — to see them 
brush away obstacles of the most forbidding aspect, as the 
T, ind of heaven prostrates the forest — to rush with them 
into the hottest of the battle, and join them in the shout of 
victory. 

Many of those men, whose names were the most dear 
to us, are no more among the living : but I trust the spirit 
which fired their bosoms has not taken its final flight from 
the earth. If any of it remains, let it be preserved for a 
day of awful retribution to the future oppressor of our 
country, whether he appear as an open enemy, or under 
the mask of a patriot. To those of my audience who 
were the companions in arms of the men of whom I have 
been speaking, this day must be doubly dear. Even upon 
their sujfcringSt they can now look back, with grateful re- 
j collection ; and the blessings which they have purchased 
7 for themselves, and their country, and which they may 
hope, notwithstanding, the ill bodings of the times, will be 
continued to many generations, must inspire emotions, 
, which language cannot name. Though they may now be 
reminded of wounds which have been laughed at, by the in- 
gratitude they reproach. Although they may pass by a 
very natural transition from the smiles and applauses which 
attended them to the camp, and the caresses which hung 
upon their victories, to the cold neglect and base reproach, 
which they have since endured ; yet the fields which the 
soldier has won, contain no fewer proofs of his valour, be- 
cause there are no monuments erected there to his memory ; 
cind the glories which thicken upon them, and their com- 



pnnions, as they retrace their steps, are not diminished by 
being contrasted, with the ill-gotten honours of hypocrisy 
and fraud. 

Let us now leave behind us these scenes, so interestino- 
to Qvaj man, who is capable of feeling a pride, or who 
cherishes an interest in his country's honours, and go for- 
ward with the process of events, which will ever distin- 
guish our history. The eventful trial, whetlier the people 
of these states were to have a government of their own, 
or v/ere to be disposed of as the caprice of a monarch, 
or the haughty ambition, or avaricious policy of his minis- 
ters might suggest, was decided for ever. A trial more 
doubtful, and if possible, more interesting, was still to be 
made; not, whether the ardent spirits which had been 
kindled in war, would endure the composure of peace ; not 
whether the soldier who had learnt that the Me of his coun- 
try had been, and might again be, decided by arms, would 
resume the peaceful occupation of a citizen ; but, whether 
out of the confused elemciits into which the nation was 
dissolved, could be reared a well ordered structure of go- 
vernment ; and whether the last experiment upon the ca- 
pacity of a people to govern themselves, would not issue in 
the reproof of our folly, and in making us the very jest 
and bijewordo^ those, whose kindness in endeavouring to 
suppress our rebellion in its infancy, had been so mortify- 
ingly repaid. 

The adoption of the constitution of the United States, 
forms one of the most prominent features in the history of 
society. Over this political creation, which had no model 
for its formation, and which was to be made out of chaos; 
the master-spirit of Washington, in whose name we are 
met to celebrate this day; of Washington, the sage, as 
well as the soldier, was called to preside. " Though the' 
pride, and pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, were' 
over," occupatmi, ?ind that of a better sort, remained for our' 



chief. * The destiny not only of the present generation, but 
of posterity, hung upon the issue. The trembHng appre- 
hensions of patriotism were to be dissipated. The most 
conflicting interests were to be reconciled — and the wretches 
who watched with eagerness, every speck in our horizon, 
with the hope that our sky might again be overcast, and 
that they might direct the storm which should come on, 
were to be disconcerted and defeated. Gratitude forbids 
rs to forget, that the way had been well prepared for the 
completion of this momentous work, by the conjoined la- 
bours of Hamilton, of Jay, and of Madison. Pardon my 
mention of these names together. The apostacy of that 
fallen angel who now sheds his blighting influence over 
some of the fairest interests of our country, ought not to 
rob him of the honours of his first estate. His contribu- 
tions to the Federalist, added not a little to it's treasures 
of intelligence, and patriotism. The mind of Mr. Jay, 
whose name will be held in affectionate remembrance so 
long as talent is admired, or incorruptible integrity is re- 
vered ; poured upon the Constitution, some of the bright- 
est rays of its clear and steady light. Hamilton — how shall 
I speak of the man whom you all knew and all loved ; of 
him who presented in one of its most ennobled forms, the 
image which the Almighty has stamped of himself upon 
man; of him whose very name lifts up every faculty of my 
being. But I dare not trust my fond affection, or ambi? 
tious admiration, which would fain bring their richest tri* 
butes to his memory, with the attempt to do him justice. 
— That unparalleled man, whose intellectual vision pierced 
through the thickest clouds of darkness, with as much 
ease as" it wandered along the regions of light, entered 
the field of controversy, and the spectres which had been 
conjured up there, by the im-aginaticns of his antagonists 
and the darkness by which they were surrounded, fled away 
together. 

But notwithstanding what had been done by the nnitetl 

2 



12 

actual condition. But we must not like little children, shut 
up our eyes and imagine that the objects of our dread 
cease to exist. Let me not be considered, after what I am 
about to say, as having taken a partial view of the evils 
which afflict or threaten us. It is not ray intention to trace 
back our administration to the first step in their descending 
progress. Few of us covet the gratification which our 
pride would derive, even from travelling upwardsy in the 
path of wretchedness and ruin ; and though we might at 
last arrive at the summit and command a prospect of the 
whole ground, the prominent objects on it, have been so 
often surveyed, that we should be repaid for our labour 
with little else than disgust. But I cannot avoid calling 
your attention for a moment to the present situation of our 
country, distinguished as it is, and that most alarmingly, 
from any in which it has hitherto been placed. On this 
subject, I shall speak what I think, whatever censure I may 
incur. No man ought to shrink from expressing his hon- 
est opinions before the whole world, for in times like these, 
silence is either cowardice, or treachery, or both. 

Let the hitherto unparalleled embarrassment of our mer- 
chants, which we are told by its authors it is not patriotic 
to speak of, (by the bye, we would thank them for devising 
some mode to conceal it) — let the general distress which 
pervades the community ; — let the destruction of the sources 
of individual gain and of national revenue, pass for nothing. 
Shall the loss of national character ; shall the debasement 
of public spirit pass for nothing too? If our administra- 
tion were this day summoned before the bar of the public, 
and called upon to answer why they have thrown away 
every title to respect, which we once had among the na- 
tions of the earth ; do you think they would be so regard- 
less of common decency, as to assert, that they have had 
a proper regard to their popidarity^ from the beginning , 
and that the still more trembling accents which have es- 
caped their lips upon every fresh insult and injury from 



abroad, have been but so many echoes to the voice of the 
people ? — or would they say that the idea of national hon- 
our is completely exploded from the new political creed, 
as one of the vagaries of more chivalric days ? — or would 
they allege, that the pomp, which calls upon a nation to be 
thankful, because the young king of Rome is not troubled 
with a windy stomach, but craves the breast with imperial 
appetite, and which spares no expense in the celebration 
of such an event ; and that the power which threatens to 
reduce the world under the mastery of a single man, no 
where find such profound admirers, as in the persons of 
republicans? And yet is not this triple answer to our ac- 
cusation, the precise language, of the public conduct of our 
rulers. 

Have we lost our senses ? Are we here in bedlam, 
tormenting ourselves witli imaginary evils, or fancying 
that we might still have retained a character which we 
never had ? or is it true, that after having been for years 
the subjects of every species of abuse from the French 
government; abuse for which we have received no apology, 
but ridicule ; and after having adopted measures at an in- 
finite expense, which by some magic or other, were to 
procure the recognition of our rights and reparation for 
ourhijuries; we have at length, without either recompense, 
or apology ; returned to the embraces of the emperor, and 
that too, while he continues to ' burn, sinky and destroy.^ 
But we are told that the emperor loves the Americans. If 
this is the species of courtship by which he woos Ameri- 
can liberty to his arms; if this is the gentleness of his love, 
what are we hereafter to expect from his disgust ; or from 
his wrath? Let us recollect we have been told that we were 
without just political views, without energy, and without 
honour. Was it this declaration which made us forget our 
injuries and prompted the cordiality of returning affection? 
Was it this which substituted the smile of reconciliation for 
the frown of resentment, or the melancholy of patient suf- 



14 

I'ering ? If such a declai'ation had been made when Wash- 
ington was president, he would have given it such an an- 
swer as would have reduced the imperial conqueror, if roy- 
alty does not add dignity to slander, to the level of a black- 
guard. What answer did it receive through Mr. Smith 
from Mr. Madison ? Why simply this, that it was not 
deemed expedient to make any animadversims upon the 
letter of the Due de Cadore, because information was daily 
expected from France by the John Adams; and the pre- 
sident wished to adopt appropriate observations to the ac- 
tual state of affairs. We had, to be sure, been fillipped in 
the face, but it was not proper to resent that insult, till 
we might hear whether it had not been followed by others- 
We may be told, that the president had reason to believe 
that the decrees were repealed, when he issued his procla- 
mation of November last. To say nothii g of the infor- 
mation on this subject, which has been lately divulged ; 
this plea is precluded by the instructions of Mr. Smith to 
General Armstrong of the 5th of July last, in which he 
says that a provision for restoring our property nmst be 
combined with a repeal of the decrees, as an indispensable 
evidence of the just purpose of France towards the United 
States. No such provision was made. Besides, was it 
not enough that our treaty with France had been violated ? 
— that our vessels which went there by the invitation of the 
o-overnment, had been confiscated, and our citizens impri- 
soned ? That the Due de Cadore had, in relation to the 
Rambouillet decree, uttered in the fiice of the world, the 
most palpable falsehoods? — diat unexampkd perfidy had 
been evinced, in the seizure of our property, by the func- 
tionaries of the French government, in Naples, in Spain, 
and in the north of Europe ? Was it necessary, th.it the 
President should be so ambitious to volunteer his confidence 
in the sincerity of Napoleon, and that too, in relation to the 
pretended revocation, so suspiciously published, and still 
more suspiciously framed. 



15 

Is there for ever to be in the lowest depth of disgrace, a 
lower still? And shall we never be able to gratify what lit. 
tie pride we may have left, by the assurance that we are at 
the bottom, and cannot go lower in this dreadful descent ? 
Patience is not on the list of national virtues. It may en- 
dure suffering with becoming meekness, but let it not hope 
to melt the heart, or weary the hand of him who applies 

the scourge What does this state of things portend ? 

Depend upon it, there is more than one way of conquering 
a nation. Break down it's spirit, and you paralyze its arm. 
Let the bosom cease to beat at the approach of dishonour ; 
and the sword will flee to it's scabbard upon the approach 
of danger. How far will this French alliance carry us? 
Let him who can inform us why we have gone thus far, tell 
us where we shall stop. We are soon to have, at the seat of 
government, \Fr<?nc/j representatives from New- Orleans. 
Louisiana may furnish many more. Are we to unite with the 
continent of Europe, in the anticommercial system against 
England, with the hope that she may fall, and we may be 
safe? Are we to be terrified into the most abject submis- 
sion to the mandates of the Emperor ? Or are we to purge 
off" the impurities of our republican institutions, by bring- 
ing them in contact with the hardihood of French virtue, 
and under the influence of a cordial and damning union 
with France, gradually be metamorphosed from Americans 
into Frenchmen. Let those who smile at anticipations 
like these, first try their powers of grimace upon what 
is past ; and then, turning towards the future, if they 
can, let them smile, and smile, and smile, and be patriots 

still Am I called upon for a remedy to these evils .^ 

My time would not permit me, if modesty would, to sug 
gest any. But one remark may suflice. Let the feelings 
of the people be as they should, and there will be found 
among them, intelligence enough to cherish and protect 

their best interests The situation of the country, 

in the single point of view in which I have been consider- 
ing it, is enough, to absorb all our thoughts. How far the 



16 

wrongs and outrages which England has committed upon 
us might have been avoided by our assuming a manly and 
imposmg attitude at the outset; or how far the differences 
subsisting between us and her, might now be adjusted in 
a spirit of conciliation, by an honourable treaty, I shall not 
attempt to enquire. The character of ournational policy, 
and the convulsions of the times, have only served to in- 
crease the embarrassments of our mutual relations, and I 
fear the time has been suffered to pass by, when the jus- 
tice of our claims would have found a reinforcement in the 
niter ests of Britain. 

Though we are now bending to the earth under the pres- 
sure of ill advised and wicked measures Though 

the warning voice of experience too distinctly presages 
evils to come, compared with which, those we have endur- 
ed have been but the gentle monitors of their approach, 
it is no small consolation, that there yet remains among 
us, a lofty, an uncringing, andan unappall ' *" . We 

who are associated in the name of Wash; 
rate his memory, and I trust, still cheri. 
While we take pride in tlie sentiments they inspu^, 
never forget the responsibiiities they impose. Let us com- 
bine and embody what we can of the intelligence and virtue 
of the community, that they may act in concert and with 
effect. Like our departed cliicf, let us in the hour of ex- 
tremest peril, collect fresh strength from our disasters, and 
like him, compel despair itself to furnish new resources 
for hope. Let us first guard ourselves if possible, against 
the fiirther inroad of principles, which would treacherously 
surrender the citadel of our liberties, or mutilate and des- 
troy every thing in it worthy of protection ; and then, if 
foreign war assails us, we will breast against its shock, a 
phalanx, which may be broken and destroyed, but which 
cannot be conquered. 

To whatever contest we may be called, let us stand toge- 
ther; if we fall, * heaven and earth shall witness that we are 
innocent,' and if we triumph, let it be the triumph oius all. 



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